Fire chief getting his raise after all

With a full complement of members voting, the Board of Selectmen last week reversed its decision of two weeks earlier not to grant Fire Chief Richard Pauley a contractual pay raise.

On Dec. 5, the board voted 2-2, twice, with member Michael Kittredge Jr. not in attendance, to deny Pauley his contractually-agreed-upon raise. Selectmen Christopher Rucho and John Hadley voted against the raise. Kevin McCormick and John O’Brien voted in favor of the raise.

Last week, with Kittredge in attendance, the board voted 3-2 in favor of granting Pauley the raise, with Kittredge casting his vote in favor. Rucho and Hadley again voted no. There was no discussion among board members, and when asked, Kittredge told his fellow board members he had watched the meeting on television and did not need to revisit the Dec. 5 deliberations.

Following the meeting, Kittredge declined to comment other than to say he felt the matter was now over.

The raise is called for in Pauley’s contract, should he receive a satisfactory or better performance on his annual review, which, in West Boylston, is given by the town administrator. Pauley is currently in the third year of his contract, which expires July 1, 2013.

Pauley had received no less than satisfactory ratings on most of the criteria listed in the contract, and better in some cases, like budgeting, Gaumond said. The performance review is not a public record, and that is part of the issue, Gaumond said last week.

The language calling for performance reviews for the fire and police chiefs, with selectmen endorsing the administrator’s decision, is language that predates Gaumond, and has been carried over in recent contracts.

“What has changed is the law,” Gaumond said.

In years past, Gaumond said he used to provide the reviews to selectmen, so they could review his own comments and recommendations. The board could then discuss with Gaumond any concerns and ask questions. However, the state in 2010 updated the Open Meeting Law, while changing the laws regarding employee privacy rights during the same period.

“The law clearly states that those records are now personnel files and cannot be shared with the public,” Gaumond said. “At the same time, the law states anything I put in selectmen’s (informational) package is a public document. So, I can no longer distribute those reports to selectmen.”

Gaumond said members of the board had asked him the purpose for the board’s vote. He suggested the board may want to adopt new language in future contracts that removes the board’s vote. According to the Special Act of 1995 that created the town administrator position, the supervision of town departments falls to the town administrator.

Gaumond said there is another inconsistency between the contracts’ language and everyday practice. Employees who are full-time, but who do not have contracts, are given step raises, not merit raises. Those raises are approved or disapproved in the budget process and are not tied to performance reviews.

Pauley was not in attendance last week. During the Dec. 5 discussion, Pauley acknowledged he has a “conditional offer” for the chief’s job in Wellfleet, but has yet to accept. He is currently in negotiations.

While Rucho has not commented on his votes, earlier this year he questioned whether the board could discipline an employee for multiple car accidents soon after Pauley had been in an accident. Ultimately, the board voted against discussing the matter.

At the time, the board had received what members described as conflicting recommendations from town counsel on whether the matter could be discussed in public, as a competency issue, or as a discipline issue, which is not open to public scrutiny.

The name of the employee was not released, but Gaumond said the employee had been notified of the meeting, as required by law. Pauley was in attendance at the meeting and then-Selectmen Chairman Allen Phillips, a firefighter/EMT, did not sit in on the discussion, citing a conflict of interest.

A subsequent executive session requested by Rucho to discuss the town administrator’s management of employees was also voted down by the board.

Never miss a story

Choose the plan that's right for you.
Digital access or digital and print delivery.